The Louvre

*Spoiler Alert!*

The Mona Lisa is small.
The Winged Victory appears to be at the helm of a stone ship (which is a poor boat design, if you ask me).
The Venus de Milo has no arms! (Ok, no big surprise there).

Taken together, these three iconic pieces of art - the three pieces which, in my opinion, cause the Louvre to have an estimated 65,000 visitors per day - are underwhelming.  I'm not an art historian; this could be part of the problem.  But for me, seeing a tiny painting behind bullet proof glass and fifty people swarming around it with their iPhones and digital cameras is not a thrill.

In my opinion, the best part of the Louvre is often overlooked: It's a royal palace!  The museum of the Louvre is located inside the Palace of the Louvre, which was built during the Medieval era and has had a series of renovations and additions since the 1600s.   Until 1682, the Palais du Louvre was the home of the Monarchs of France, including several Louis', Catherine de' Medici, and Charles V.  What does all of this mean to museum goers?  It means that when you walk around the art galleries, don't just look at the paintings and sculptures: Look at the room you're in!.  Many of the ceilings are gold plated and feature beautiful fresco and portraits.  The floors are all marble tile, and many of the doorways, support columns and fireplaces are beautifully engraved.  Walking through this magnificent palace, one can just imagine the rage that 18th century French Revolutionaries must have felt seeing the splendor of the palace, yet having no food to eat!

The most fabulous of all of the palace are the apartments of Napoleon III, who has the distinct place in French history of being the first elected President while simultaneously being the last sovereign monarch.  I'm still trying to figure out how that worked, exactly.  Napoleon III's apartments include the royal throne room, bedchamber, several halls and salons for entertaining, and a grand dining room.  Let me just say, Napoleon III's dining room table is bigger than my entire apartment.  In all of the rooms, there are beautifully carved pieces of furniture, ornately crafted tapestries and carpets, beautifully made drapes and bed linens, and, oh yeah, a solid gold ceiling.

This trip to the Louvre was actually my third, but I had never seen these apartments. On my other trips to the museum, I was too drained after my visit to the Mona Lisa wing to do anything but go outside and ride one of the billions of merry-go-rounds the city spontaneously sets up for no reason (True).  My advice to visitors: Know what you'd like to see before you get there.  If you're reading this, you've already somewhat mastered the internet, so you can look up which pieces are held at the Louvre, and what their galleries contain.  There are three museum wings: Denon, Sully, and Richelieu.  Denon has the Mona Lisa, Sully has Napoleon III"s apartment, and Richelieu has the remnants of the Louvre as a medieval castle - you can go into the basement and walk the length of the 13th century moat and see some ruins of the old dungeon.  The museum is enormous, and it would be impossible to view everything, even if you went there every day for a month.  Know what you want to see before you go, that way you don't miss out on anything!  Also, if you have the opportunity, the museum is free the first Sunday of every month, so, obviously, that's when we decided to make our appearance.